Every So Often...
by Pixie Stix Fairy
Summary: Hey! Wow this wasn't just fluffy, it's sappy! In fact, its so sappy it'd be impossible to wade through it. But please do! R/Hr Mostly Ron's thoughts. r/r!
1. Default Chapter Title

Ron was having the most wonderful dream. In it, he had just won the House Cup for Gryffindor by   
scoring the 10 point the Quidditch team needed to break the tie just as the snitch had been   
found. He was soaring over the stands, which were practically quaking because the cheering was so   
loud. They were chanting his name! From above he found who he was looking for and swooped down to   
meet her. Her brown hair was tied back into a messy bun but he didn't mind. And then, just as she   
was about to rush into his arms, something furry hit him in the face. He swatted at it, tried to   
ignore it, but it hit him again.  
  
Grudgingly, Ron opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep on the common room couch again. Above him,   
perched on the back of the couch, was Crookshanks, who looked him straight in the eyes and   
shamelessly flicked his tail against Ron's face yet again. Ron reached up and shoved the cat off   
the couch. He made to get up but found that he couldn't because of a weight on his chest. His   
sudden movement had jarred the sleeper and they made a small noise of protest. Hermione.  
  
His fuzzy, still half-asleep brain pieced together bits of information. She was giving him a   
crash-course review for the NEWTS (her newest obsession now that OWLS were over with). They must   
have fallen asleep (probably out of insane boredom). He debated going upstairs and crawling into   
bed but he hated to have to wake her up and besides, it was so nice and quiet and warm here on   
the sofa. The company was much better too, he thought with a grin.   
  
Ron looked down at the top of her head and what he could see of her face. She was plain; not   
exactly pretty (he doubted she would ever be, really), but the most beautiful girl he knew.   
Hermione was Hermione. She was special. He'd just never have the guts to admit that to her (or   
anyone else for that matter). No, he would just nurse his fruitless little crush forever or until   
he found someone else, whichever came first.  
  
He didn't know exactly what he was afraid of. Maybe it was the possibility that she would return   
the feeling. Yeah, that was it. He was afraid that they would become "a couple" (a couple of   
what?) and have one of those brief relationships because he had built her up so much in his mind   
that it would have been impossible for her to live up to it. And then they would break up. He   
would rather pine away after her until he was an old, old man than have to wake up every morning   
knowing that he had let wonderful Hermione go.   
  
He knew she felt the same way too. Or at least he was pretty sure, anyway. He had overheard her   
the other day. She was in the library with a group of Ravenclaws she studied with and he had been   
hiding behind one of the bookshelves (Hey! He really hadn't liked the way that one guy kept   
leering at her during dinner every night). For some reason or other the conversation had turned   
to him. One of the girls said some condescending remark about an answer he had given in class   
that day. Hermione said something in his defense and a small argument ensued. He had held his   
breathe throughout the whole thing, letting it out when he heard a book snap shut and a chair   
scrape the floor. One of the other girls laughed. "What? Do you like him or something?" she   
asked.   
  
"I just never realized what snobs you were," answered Hermione, and she left. She hadn't gone   
back to the study group since.  
  
And she hadn't answered no either.  
  
Ron tried to settle himself more comfortably on the couch and put his arms around the   
still-sleeping girl. He was really starting to reconsider that pretty thing he had thought about   
earlier. Vaguely wondered what she was wearing under her robes or, more importantly, what she   
wasn't...  
  
ACK!! No! Dirty thought! Bad Ron! Bad, bad, BAD Ron! He scolded himself. This "just friends"   
thing was getting difficult.   
  
"Hey, Ron? You down here?" Ron's head whipped to the stairwell to see Harry, who was standing in   
his pajamas and slippers, squinting at him. Ron cleared his throat.  
  
"Yeah," he tried to sound annoyed. "Would you mind helping get her off me?" Harry chuckled and   
together they shook Hermione awake.  
  
"Go back to bed Harry," Ron assured him. "I just need to clean up this mess." Harry shrugged   
groggily and plodded upstairs, yawning hugely before he disappeared. It was just Ron and Hermione   
again. Ron helped her stack all the books and rolls of parchment into the neat stacks she   
insisted on and then walked her to her stairwell. They said their goodnights and, just as she   
turned to go upstairs Ron had a knee-jerk reaction (not literally).  
  
"Hermione!" he said, completely involuntarily. She turned around.  
  
"Hm?" Say something you idiot! Ron's mind screamed. But he couldn't come up with anything.   
Instead, he reached out and straightened her prefects badge.  
  
"Much better," he joked. "Now I can rest peacefully." She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Whatever, good night!" She gave him a quick, entirely friendly peck on the mouth before going to   
her dorm. Ron grinned after her. If they never got together, he thought, dear God, please don't   
ever let her lose that habit!  
  
  
A/N: Hi hi! Well, I"ve finally gotten one up. I'm not usually this sappy either! It must be the   
weather, honestly, yesterday I was wearing shorts, today I had to turn the heater on! Its that   
darn hole in the ozone!! Um, anyway! This may, possibly, maybe, sort of, kind of might become a   
series but it depends entirely up to you guys! Hope you liked it! Oh yeah, read and review! It'll   
fun! Really!   
  
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Not a single, tweaking bit of it. I am but the vessel. 


	2. Default Chapter Title

First author's note: To everyone who reviewed last time: You guys are so nice!! I didn't expect such a big turnout review-wise! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!! 

Ahem, this part is the "sequel" of the Every So Often but it can be read alone (I think). Thanks again, hope you guys enjoy this part, read and review (please!) and don't run with scissors; its dangerous!

Every So Often: First Time For Everything

From his place behind the bookshelf Ron's view was very limited. He had removed two (very dusty) books from the shelf to serve as a sort of window and what he saw made his hands clench and unclench.

There sat Hermione, out in the open, laughing and just having the time of her life with some boy in Ravenclaw!

For about a month Ron had been following Hermione whenever she snuck away from the common room after dinner. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and alternate Sundays at exactly ten till eight she'd make up some lame excuse to "go for a walk." And every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and alternate Sundays she would jog to the library and get very friendly with this guy. Too friendly, in Ron's opinion. 

You couldn't exactly blame Ron for not liking the guy. For one thing he was one of the Ravenclaws who had poked fun at him a few months ago. For another, he was too…perfect! Nice hair, straight teeth, really, really perfect hair, pretty smart, obscenely perfect hair….

There was another burst of laughter from the two he was spying on (what was so funny about Arithmancy anyway?!). Ron was peering through his little window to get a better look when someone cleared their throat behind him. He spun around and came face to face with the librarian. 

"Do you need some help, young man?" She asked in that stern tone that sounded more like "What are you doing?" to Ron's ears. He had to think fast.

"Uh, I was just, uh, doing some research on…" his eyes fell on the books in his hands: _Every Possible Way You Could Think Of (And A Few You Can't) To Plant Tunaep's_ and _1,000,001 Ways To Grow A Happy and Healthy Tunaep_. "Tunaeps! I'm doing some research on tunaeps for Professor Sprout." Ron gave the librarian his most winning smile. She scowled back. 

"Really? Well then, what exactly are you looking for?" she asked. Ron shrugged.

"Just the exact soil temperature they need to grow purple flowers. It's very tricky, you know. If it's too hot you get blue flowers, and if it's too cold you get red ones." The librarian seemed satisfied with this and walked away, muttering under her breath. Ron, after silently thanking Hermione and Neville for helping him study for herbology, turned back to his "window" and almost shouted. That stupid, know-it-all Ravenclaw (whom Ron had now dubbed "Mr. Perfect Hair") had his arm around Hermione's shoulder! And just kept writing and acting as if it were the most normal thing in the world! Ron's first instinct was to push the bookshelf over on the guy's head, but that would have been silly. Mr. Perfect was sitting to far away to get good and clobbered. But he wasn't sitting far away enough for Ron not to hear what he was saying.

"So, when are you going to introduce me to your friends?" he had asked abruptly. Hermione visibly winced; her quill made a ragged line across the page of notes she had been writing. Mr. Perfect Hair laughed and Ron could have sworn he saw his teeth sparkle. "Come on, Hermione, it can't be that bad!" 

"You have no idea how judgmental they can be! Ron even stopped speaking to me because he didn't like my cat! Well, granted, it did try to eat his family pet, but it was evil for crying out loud!" Mr. Perfect Hair gave her a funny look, then shrugged it off. 

"Maybe it's not them. Maybe you're just ashamed of me…" he said in such a fake sounding voice that Ron almost gagged. He heard Hermione sigh. 

"Don't start that again! Look, I'll tell them soon, I promise! I've just always been afraid of how they might act when I found a boyfriend." That last word hit Ron like a rock. He had been hoping all sorts of things: that they were just friends, that she was just using Mr. Perfect Hair to get better grades, that he was gay. But to have it put so bluntly, by Hermione nonetheless, it turned the suspicion from rumor to fact. But Ron wasn't going down without a fight. He pulled out his wand and pointed it straight at the back of Mr. Perfect Hair's head. 

"Waddiwasi!" he whispered, and a huge wad of gum shot out of the end of his wand and right into Mr. Perfect Hair's hair. His head snapped forward because of the force and while he was still trying to figure out what had happened, Ron mumbled another spell. This time, one of the legs of the chair Mr. Perfect Hair had been sitting in cracked in half, pitching him forward. Hermione was so busy helping him up that she didn't see the red head run out of the library.

It was several weeks after the library fiasco that Hermione broke the news to Harry and Ron that she was seeing someone. Harry smiled and congratulated her awkwardly, glanced at Ron, then ran off for Quidditch practice as if nothing had happened. Ron on the other hand, began to ramble and stutter at the same time, which made it very hard to understand a word he was saying. Hermione looked worriedly at him. 

"Ron? Ron, are you okay? You look a little sick." Ron swallowed and nodded. It was too warm suddenly. 

"Outside…Walk…. Now," he managed to croak. Hermione nodded and lead him down the halls onto the grounds. They walked in silence for a long time. Hermione's hand rested lightly on Ron's arm, more to console him and keep him from running off screaming into the Forbidden Forest than anything else. They were going around the Great Lake for the second time when Hermione broke the silence. 

"Now Ron, I know this is going to be hard for you to get used to but I really like this guy. And—"

"Has he kissed you yet?" he interrupted. Hermione stopped so abruptly that she almost tripped.

"What?" She turned to face him, blinking.

"Had he kissed you yet?" he repeated. There was a strange look in his eyes as he stared at her. Hermione became flustered.

"I don't see how that's any of your business!" she replied. What the heck was he trying to get at? "Hermione," his voice was pleading.

"Have you ever been properly kissed? By anyone?" Her heart broke looking at him. He looked so desperate. She told him the truth. 

"No." Ron nodded slowly. His eyes cleared and he cupped her elbows, pulling her up until she stood on her toes. Then he kissed her. He hadn't really thought he would do it. The thought had been crashing around in his head since they had left the common room, but he hadn't really though he would actually go through with it.

+++WARNING: HEAVY AND THICK SAP AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION+++

He felt her start of surprise when he kissed her, but she hadn't pulled away. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, her mouth opened under his. Ron fell into the kiss

+++SAP OVER+++

Then, with a sudden gasp, Hermione jerked back. Dazed, blood pounding his ears, it took Ron a minute to fully register what had happened. For a split second he saw Hermione's face, eyes closed, brow furrowed and mouth still slightly parted. She looked so pretty, he thought. Then the last thing he had expected to happen happened. 

She pushed him into the lake.

By the time Ron figured out which way was up and had untangled himself from the weeds, Hermione was long gone. But it didn't matter anymore. He had been her first kiss. She could run around Hogwarts kissing anything with lips and he wouldn't care. He had kissed her first and this would be the one she measured all the other against for the rest of her life. Ron rung out his sleeves and smiled. Take that, Mr. Perfect Hair!

Second author's note: Uck! That gave me cavities! Hope you guys enjoyed reading it though! Thanks again for all the reviews last time! You're all so…so…nice!!! I might put out another one (on what I don't know!) but again, its up to you! Lots of love and please review!! Kudos to whoever knows where tunaeps came from (and is snuck a word?)!

~*~ The Pixie Stix Fairy ~*

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you've read before. I do, however, own Mr. Perfect Hair and that's enough for me! ^_~


	3. Default Chapter Title

Author's note: Uh, thanks to everyone who reviewed my last few fics! You're all such dolls! Here's the next chunk of Every So Often. It's not as, um, light-hearted, as my first few. But you may like it! I dunno and neither will you until you read! Oh yeah, and for those of you who can't picture Edwin, watch Frasier. Edwin is Niles with a wand. Anyway, without further ado: 

Every So Often:

A Change of Seasons

A large brown barn owl rapped loudly on the window of Ron's office, just as it had every day for the last two years since Ron had joined the MLES. Ron opened the window, accepted his _Daily Prophet_ and tipped the bird, which flew away with a haughty ruffling of his feathers. 

On the cover of the paper, in big black letters that scrolled magically across the top was the headline MINISTRY OFFICIAL VICTIM OF DEATHEATER ATTACK. Ron flipped to the page and, knowing that most of his friends and family worked for the Ministry, kept his fingers crossed. 

"Ministry official Edwin Brandt, longstanding press representative of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and rumored to be next in line for head of the department, fell victim to the deatheaters late last night. He was pronounced dead upon arrival…"

Shit.

Ron was grabbing his coat and on his way out the door when his partner, Ozzie, walked in.

"Hey! Ron, where're you going?" he asked. Ron grabbed the man's arm and pulled him alongside of him as he walked down the hallway. 

"Glad you came, Ozzie. I need you to cover for me for the afternoon," Ron said to the shorter man, who was hurrying to keep up with Ron's longer gait. Ozzie, who painfully resembled Professor Flitwick, frowned.

"Sure. May I ask why?"

"Have you read today's _Prophet_?" Ron asked.

"I skimmed over it, yes." 

"Did you skim over the article on the Ministry official? The one the deatheaters got to?"

"Oooh, yeah. What a way to go, ey?" replied Ozzie. Ron grimaced. 

"Yeah. Well, he was going to propose to my best friend Friday night." Ozzie stopped short a moment, then ran to catch up with Ron, who had continued walking. 

"Oy, hey Ron, I'm sorry. Anything I can do?" Ron stopped when he reached the door. He turned to face his partner and nodded. 

"Yeah, if anyone asks where I am, tell them I left on family business."

Ron made his way to the DIMC building as quickly as he could. His brain felt like a squashy mess in his head. Eddie was dead. It was like saying the sun was out; he accepted it as a fact, but it didn't kick in the way it should have. It was as if they had been introduced only yesterday. 

Ron grinned in spite of himself. He remembered the day Hermione had introduced him to her new boyfriend. Ron hadn't liked him. Eddie had been fey, fussy, precocious and persnickety; everything Hermione found endearing and Ron found annoying to the point of nausea. In fact, he reminded Ron a little of Percy. Obsessive-compulsive, always wore a tie, probably slept with a framed picture of Barty Crouch Sr. hanging over his bed… Ron had tried everything in his power to get Hermione away from this guy, from "forgetting" to pass on messages to magically locking him inside a closet. But Eddie had always forgiven him.

Ron snapped out of his reminiscing as he entered the DIMC building, a tall stone structure whose outer walls were coated with thousands of various international flags. Ron walked up the steps, waved at the receptionist to sit down and ran upstairs to the eleventh floor. The secretary, Miss Montgomery, was a friendly, plump Scotswoman who ran over to Ron as soon as he walked in. He wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Oh, hello dear! Did you have a lunch appointment with Miss Granger today?" she sniffled loudly. "I must have forgotten, what with things turning out the way they have…" Her voice drifted off and Ron noticed her puffy, swollen eyes and the tear tracks on her face. Eddie had been like a son to her. 

"No, I didn't have an appointment, Donna. How're you holding out?" The older woman smoothed out a wrinkle out on his robes. 

"I'll be alright. When you get to be my age you'll have experienced enough of these to cope. It's just… He was so young! Such a waste of life!" She had started crying again. Ron handed her a handkerchief and led her to a chair. She waved him away. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Now what is it you're here for? You couldn't possibly be that worried about little, old me," she said. Ron gave her a smile.

"Actually, I wanted to know if you've heard from Hermione at all. Has she owled or stopped in today?" Miss Montgomery shook her head. 

"Haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon, when she went home. I was going to check on her myself, once I closed the office for the funeral preparations." Ron nodded. Hermione must be feeling terrible if she hadn't even owled the office. Miss Montgomery had started bawling again and Ron sighed.

"Donna, once you're finished here go home, have a nice cup of tea and get some rest. I'll check on Hermione and owl you or something, alright?" She nodded. "Would you mind if I used your fireplace? I can't Apparate out of here and I'd like to get there as soon as possible." She nodded again. Ron gave her a good-bye peck and strode over the fireplace. 

It wasn't the average fireplace, in that this one was built with the intention of Floo powder in mind, so it was as tall and wide as a doorway. He pointed his wand and said "Incendio!" A cheerful fire was now roaring and crackling where there had been a cold log before. Ron grabbed the jar of Floo powder on the mantle piece and tossed some into the flames, which turned a nice welcoming shade of green and jumped up. He took a step inside.

"Don't forget to say 'nine' to get an outside fireplace, dear!" Miss Montgomery called after him. 

"Er, yeah, right." He cleared his throat. "Nine. Thirty-five East Birmingham Drive," he shouted into the flames. There was the familiar spinning sensation as he shot past fireplace after fireplace. Ron found his thoughts turning to his friends again.

After he and Hermione had helped Harry defeat the Dark Lord, things had changed (to say the least). What had happened that day was something none of them had wanted to relive right away, so they had all gone their separate ways and kept in (very light) touch. Harry had become especially distant. Not to say that he didn't write; he sent an owl (or bird in some cases) to Ron every month or so, giving him vague descriptions about the weather or how his vegetable garden was doing. And Ron respected that. Hell, if he had been through half of what Harry had gone through he'd want to be left alone with _his_ vegetable garden.

Hermione was a different story. He and Hermione had dated on and off at Hogwarts their sixth and seventh year. They had even talked, _very_ casually, about marriage and kids and the lot. Ron loved her, he felt comfortable around her. She made it so easy to picture a future together. Then, after the final battle with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, while Ron had wanted fade into the background like Harry, Hermione forced contact. She wrote to them both every week, almost desperately trying to hold on to the friendship. Ron had written back, Harry had sent his monthly nicety. 

Eventually Ron and Hermione became closer, moved in together, started careers. And then, one day they both decided to move on. It had become too stressful to begin their jobs and worry about a relationship besides. Ron had just started training for the MLES and Hermione had begun clawing her way up the Ministry hierarchy as an underpaid intern at the DIMC; it was just too much for them at the time. But they had stayed friends. 

Eventually she had started seeing Eddie (who hated to be called that) and Ron's petty jealousy rekindled again. As was mentioned before, he had done everything he could to break to two up. That was, until he stepped back for a moment. It was at the holiday party his dad had thrown. Hermione was there with Edwin and it struck Ron suddenly how genuinely _happy_ she was. He hadn't seen her glow like that since Hogwarts! Ron made up his mind then and there; if being with Eddie made Hermione happy, then he'd be happy for her (in a heart-stabbing, gut-wrenching, near suicidal kind of way).

And, much to his shock, Eddie turned out to be a not-so-bad guy! Sure he was prissy and would rather spend his time seasoning copper pots than go for a game of Quidditch. And so what if he ordered "a double cappuccino, half-caf, nonfat milk, with enough foam to be aesthetically pleasing but not so much that it would leave a mustache" instead of a plain old butterbeer? Ron actually started looking forward to spending time with the ninny. He had even helped him go ring shopping when Eddie had dropped the bomb that he wanted to marry Hermione, though Ron couldn't help feel that little pluck at his heart when they found the perfect one. That had been what? Two weeks ago? A week and a half? And now Eddie was dead. 

All those thoughts and more flashed through Ron's head in the three seconds it took to arrive at the right fireplace. And when he stepped through into Hermione and Eddie's living room he almost started to cry. Almost

Ron followed the soft creaking sound to the bedroom. There sat Hermione, rocking back and forth and clutching a very patient looking Crookshanks as if she was drowning and he was a life-vest. She looked a mess; her hair was messy, her eyes were red from crying and she had slept in her work robes. It broke Ron's heart to see her that way.

"Hermione?" he asked quietly. Crookshanks let out a meow and wiggled out of her arms and out the door. Ron sat down next to the sobbing girl and hugged her. He felt her collapse against his shoulder as she started to cry harder. She was trying to say something but all that came out were choked words and gagging noises. He patted her head, he was crying now too, and tried to think of something, anything reassuring to say but he drew a blank. Sometimes words weren't enough.

Author's note: There, how was that? Hoped you all like it, I know that I feel emotionally drained after writing it. Not too terribly sad, I guess, but not a happy fic… Oh well! A special thanks to all six of you who reviewed my plea for help! You guys are the best! As for the rest of you, shame! Shame for not reading and reviewing!! But I'll forgive you if you read and review this time, just 'cause I'm nice! ^_~ Love ya!

~*~*The Pixie Stix Fairy*~*~

Disclaimer: Ha ha! I can finally claim something this time around! Miss Donna Montgomery is mine. Ozzie is mine. Edwin Brandt's name is mine, although the personality traits belong to Mr. Christopher Lloyd and the rest of the producers of Frasier. As for Ron, Hermione, Harry, Professor Flitwick, Percy and any other names I may have forgotten; they belong to the very nice J K Rowling. Hope I didn't forget anyone….


End file.
